René C. Davidson Courthouse

The Oakland Public Library is the public library in Oakland, California. Opened in 1878, the Oakland Public Library currently serves the city of Oakland, along with neighboring smaller cities Emeryville and Piedmont. The Oakland Public Library has the largest collection of any public library in the East Bay, featuring approximately 1.5 million items. It consists of a main library located in downtown Oakland, and 16 branch libraries throughout the city (see below). Special services within the Oakland Public Library system include the African American Museum and Library at Oakland (AAMLO), the Second Start Adult Literacy Program, and the Tool Lending Library

The Oakland Museum of California or OMCA (formerly the Oakland Museum) is an interdisciplinary museum dedicated to the art, history, and natural science of California, located adjacent to Oak Street, 10th Street, and 11th Street in Oakland, California. The museum contains more than 1.8 million objects dedicated to "telling the extraordinary story of California."

Oakland's Civic Center neighborhood is a residential and public building district on the east side of Oakland's Central Business District. Its borders are roughly Downtown and Harrison Street to the west, the East Lake Neighborhood and Lakeshore Avenue to the east, the Lakeside Apartments District and 14th Street to the North, and Chinatown and 11th Street to the South.

The Camron-Stanford House is the last of the 19th-century Victorian mansions that once surrounded Lake Merritt in Oakland, California. It was the home to a series of influential families, and in 1907, became the city's first museum.

Kaiser Convention Center is a historic, publicly owned multi-purpose building located in Oakland, California. The facility includes a 5,492-seat arena, a large theater, and a large ballroom. The building is #27 on the list of Oakland Historic Landmarks., and was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2021.The building is located at 10 10th Street, in the Civic Center district of the city. It is next to the Oakland Museum, Laney College, Lake Merritt, and near the Lake Merritt BART station.

Laney College is a public community college in Oakland, California. Laney is the largest of the four colleges of the Peralta Community College District, which serves northern Alameda County. Laney College is named after Joseph Clarence Laney. The college offers both certificates and credits for Associate of Arts degree, as well as prerequisites to transfer to four year universities. It is accredited by the Western Association of Schools and Colleges.

The Lakeside Apartments District neighborhood, also known as The Gold Coast, and simply as The Lakeside, is one of Oakland's historic residential neighborhoods between the Downtown district and Lake Merritt. In the context of a Cultural Heritage Survey, the City of Oakland officially named most of the blocks of the neighborhood "The Lakeside Apartments District," and designated it as a local historic district with architecturally significant historic places, and Areas of Primary Importance (APIs). The greater neighborhood includes the interior blocks officially designated as a local historic district and the 'Gold Coast' peripheral areas along Lakeside Drive, 20th Street, and the west edge of Lake Merritt, areas closer to 14th Street and the Civic Center district, and blocks adjacent to downtown along Harrison Street. The district is characterized by a predominance of rent-stabilized apartments, mixed-use buildings, and a long history of regional mass transit connections serving its central location. In recent years, mid-rise, mixed-use, market rate, and affordable rental housing has been planned, proposed, approved, constructed, and inhabited. At the present, other developers have proposed market-rate condominium skyscrapers and other high-rise towers which have idled in various stages of the planning process. From 2007 to 2009, the Oakland Planning Commission revised zoning and building height regulations for the neighborhood.

The Oakland Hotel is a historic building in Oakland, California. It was built as a luxury hotel by P.J. Walker in 1912, with investments from businessmen Francis Marion Smith, Edson Adams and W.W. Garthwaite. From 1943 to 1963, it was a hospital for the United States Army and the United States Department of Veterans Affairs. It was subsequently unoccupied until at least the late 1970s.The building was designed in the Renaissance Revival style by architect Henry Janeway Hardenbergh. It has been listed on the National Register of Historic Places since September 4, 1979.

Lake Merritt is an underground Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) station located east of Downtown Oakland near the eponymous Lake Merritt. It is the nearest BART station to Chinatown and Laney College.

Camp Downey was an early training camp for California Volunteers, overlooking Lake Merritt, on what is now Seventh Avenue in Oakland, California. Camp Downey was established on August 31, 1861 by Lieutenant Colonel Joseph R. West with the 1st Infantry, California Volunteers. After September 15, 1861 the camp was abandoned as the Volunteers took ship for Camp Latham in Southern California to suppress secessionists disturbances there.

Harrison and Fifteenth Streets Historic District is a group of seven historical buildings in downtown Oakland, California, United States. The Harrison and Fifteenth Street Historic District buildings were built between 1914 and 1929. The buildings were listed on the National Register of Historic Places on November 7, 1996. The Harrison and Fifteenth Streets Historic District covers: 1401–1501 Harrison Street, 300–312 14th Street, and 300–349 15th Street. The Harrison and Fifteenth Streets Historic District includes the Mrs. A.E. White Building at 327-349 15th Street, that was also designated an Oakland Landmark (LM-85-319) in 1985. The Mrs. A.E. White three-story building is a Tudor building designed by architect Clay N. Burrell. The White Building has 150 feet (46 m) of store frontage along 15th Street, but this building is only 20.25 feet (6.17 m) deep into the lot. Most of the buildings were built in the late 19th and 20th century Revival architecture.

Lake Merritt is a large tidal lagoon in the center of Oakland, California, just east of Downtown. It is surrounded by parkland and city neighborhoods. It is historically significant as the United States' first official wildlife refuge, designated in 1870, and has been listed as a National Historic Landmark since 1963, and on the National Register of Historic Places since 1966. The lake features grassy shores, several artificial islands intended as bird refuges and an interpretive center called the Rotary Nature Center at Lakeside Park. It has a boating center where sailboats, canoes and rowboats can be rented and classes are held. There is a fairy-tale themed amusement park called Children's Fairyland. The Gardens at Lake Merritt is also inside Lakeside Park. It is a 7.5 acre garden which contains seven themed gardens (Japanese, Mediterranean, Bonsai and more) as well as community garden plots for growing food. The Gardens host the Autumn Lights Festival annually in late October, bringing over 100 artists to the garden with fabulous illuminated and digital art. A popular walking and jogging path runs along its Lake perimeter. The circumference of the lake is 3.4 miles (5.5 km) and its area is 155 acres (63 ha).